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  ?Democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed?, says the preamble of the Indian Right to Information (RTI) Act.
     The act provides effective access to information for citizens of India, which is under the control of the public authorities. It promotes transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority. The Right to Information Bill, 2005 was passed by the Lok Sabha on May 11, 2005 and by the Rajya Sabha on May 12, 2005 and received the assent of the President of India on June 15, 2005 and came to force on October 12, 2005.

     This Briefing paper analyses the highlights and the status of implementation of the RTI Act in India and also looks at similar laws in other countries.  (Read more)
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What You Say

  • 1 of 2

    Do you feel stringent laws to prevent corruption and rights (such as access to information) given to common people can lead towards policy paralyses?

    Yes No Can't say

  • 2 of 2

    Do you feel most of the people in India have no taste of good governance and hence it remains a marginal issue for elections in India?

    Yes No Can't say

Responses

  • 1 of 6

    Governments in South Asian countries are gradually becoming more afraid of the activities of Civil Society Organizations and thus taking steps to restrain CSOs. Do you feel there would be serious impact on the role played by CSOs in the overall governance and development?


  • 2 of 6

    Companies in India are evidently absent from a four-year-old United Nations-led global initiative against corruption. Do you agree that private companies are in tune with corruption?


  • 3 of 6

    In the current scenario, where information is attached with lot of strings, do you feel dissemination of information is crucial for enhancing accountability ?


  • 4 of 6

    Social networking sites are effective tool for lobbying and bringing pro-poor changes ?


  • 5 of 6

    Do you feel social accountability tools are cost effective way of enhancing effectivness of development efforts ?


  • 6 of 6

    Even though the common man suffers corruption at the very low levels of bureaucracy, it is the big players who indulge in high level corruption ?